Law enforcement officials and victims of sexual assault in Michigan could soon be able to track the rape kits used to gather evidence. A state budget amendment would set aside money for training and software that keeps track of where a kit is located at each step of an investigation. This Week in Review, Weekend Edition host Rebecca Kruth and senior news analyst Jack Lessenberry talk about why Michigan isn't already using tracking software.

Stateside’s conversation with Jonathan Weinberg, law professor at Wayne State University

You are being tracked. Your actions are being tracked by government, retailers, credit agencies, social media, and it all goes much deeper than you might realize.

Jonathan Weinberg, a professor of law at Wayne State University, joined Stateside host Lester Graham to discuss the state of surveillance on the average person today, and where it might go in the future.

Stateside’s conversation with John Cheney-Lippold, assistant professor of American culture at the University of Michigan.

You’ve heard that advertisers are keeping track of every online site you visit. They keep track of the data to try to determine what you’re likely to buy. Well, that online data collection is just the beginning.

John Cheney-Lippold, assistant professor of American culture at the University of Michigan and author of the book We Are Data: Algorithms and the Making of Our Digital Selves, helped explain the difference between data that is trying to sell you a product, and data that truly knows who you are as a person.

Facebook’s 32-year-old billionaire founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has been touring the country. He made stops in Michigan recently. He toured Ford’s Rouge plant and even tried his hand at putting parts on an F-150 pickup truck. Turns out time on the assembly line is hard work. He also privately met with Muslim students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

You may have heard that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently chose little ol’ Dearborn to lean into the real world. Good choice, even if the mogul’s posts after his visit proved Detroit isn’t the only patch of America living and working in a bubble. Silicon Valley is, too.

Emails recently released by Gov. Rick Snyder's office indicated that Michigan State Police were aware that a Copper City man made a potentially threatening Facebook post against Snyder over the Flint water crisis.

The Flint Journal reports that a state police senior intelligence analyst alerted commanders about the post. The man who wrote the post was on probation after being involved in a 12-hour armed standoff with police.

There was an effort to charge the man with violating his probation, but a judge ultimately decided not to move ahead with the violation.

A dusty old Facebook hoax that was debunked years ago has flared up again being passed from friend to friend like a bad cold.

It's the "Facebook privacy status" hoax – the one that reads "As of September 29, 2015, I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future" ... and so on and so forth.

Cliff Lampe, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Information joined us to talk about why so many people are falling for this again.

A Flint police officer has lost his job because of a post on his Facebook page.

Police Chief James Tolbert says Robert Garceau violated the department's social media and code of conduct policies with a Facebook post after a recent double shooting. One man died and another was critically wounded.

Embattled Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema is hitting back at critics of his anti-gay and anti-Muslim Web postings, saying he stands on the same issues he always has: "God, family and country."

In a Facebook post, the former state representative says people are feeding half-truths to the news media within the GOP and stirring up divisiveness.

He says he's wrongly being blamed for posting other people's comments and says it's an unfortunate and uncivil tactic to tarnish his reputation.

Rick Pluta, Lansing bureau chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network and co-host of "It's Just Politics" joined us today.

In late March, Facebook users began changing their profile pics to show their support for gay marriage.

Facebook tracked analyzed those changes and found that 2.77 million users in the United States made the switch - and the users who made the switch were more likely to live along the coasts or in the Great Lakes region.

These days, we are constantly being told how great the so-called new media are. Thanks to smart phones, the Internet, Twitter, Facebook, and all the rest of it, we can all share everything with everyone in the world at a nanosecond’s notice. That is to say, without thinking about it.

On occasion, this has allowed journalism to break new records getting the story first. But more often, it has allowed us to break new records in getting things wrong, in embarrassing ourselves and doing harm to others.

One horrible example of this happened last weekend. U of M President Mary Sue Coleman addressed the crowd at Michigan Stadium during the halftime game against Nebraska.

Ever since the rise of Facebook we’ve heard the warning: be careful about what you put on Facebook, watch what you post online. What if a prospective employer checks out your Facebook page and sees something that tanks you for that new job?

But, in his recent article in Crain’s Detroit Business, writer Chris Gautz tells us it’s the employer who needs to tread lightly and carefully in looking at social media, or the online presence of potential hires, and he warns companies to be careful in taking action against employees for their Facebook or Twitter postings.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, not everybody in your virtual circle of friends shares the same political beliefs as you.

Jennifer White talks with Cliff Lampe, Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. He gives some tips on how to survive social media, especially Facebook during this election season.

Take a vacation from social media

“If for instance, you were ever thinking about trying out Pinterest, now might be the time because there you’ll see a lot of pictures of cupcakes and dresses, and very few political campaign messages. Or if you were thinking about trying out Instagram and sharing your photos with people. So, this might be a great time to try another site and explore that for a little bit,” Lampe said.

Earlier today, Michigan Radio’s Kyle Norris posted a story about Michiganders’ love of traveling north of their hometowns for an in-state getaway. On our facebook page, we asked fans to join the conversation:

“Ok, let's hear your favorite thing about going ‘up north.’”

Followers posted comments detailing the perks of their favorite spots up north.

Several answered that the drive north is the best part of the experience.

Gary: Crossing the tension line (or "ecotone") between southern and northern forests. The pines and sand sneak in so slowly you barely notice, until they seem suddenly to dominate.

Cathrin: Not only do the trees change, but the landscape begins to rise and fall in drastic contrast to the flat plains of the center of the mitten. So beautiful!

Dani: crossing the bridge to the u.p ...being so close to 3 of the great lakes the beautiful scenery the falls the fudge in mackinaw smoked fish in st ignance and most of all being away from the big city

New posters in downtown Ann Arbor businesses will ask visitors to stop giving money to panhandlers. The effort by the mayor's office and businesses asks people to give money to local resources for the homeless instead.

Readers jumped at the chance to share their stories and “personal policies.”

Charles–I used to run the old laundry mat on Broadway & Maiden Lane in Ann Arbor & used to have to deal with panhandlers, daily! After awhile you can figure out who really needs some help and those who were just mooching a free ride. $5 was the limit I would give to those who were not just gonna drink it away, but, you never know, do you!

Angie- We were dining in A2 a couple of years ago, and my daughter was being nice and felt sorry for a beggar. When we left the restaurant, she offered him some take-out in a container and he got all annoyed at her and said "I dont want that" >:(

Tom- If someone asks me politely, I'll give them whatever change I have in my pocket-- sometimes it's more than a dollar; sometimes it's 10 cents. But I won't open my wallet in front of a panhandler. My policy prevents me from having to make a decision each time I'm asked. I've never had anyone be anything but grateful.